Automatic valve for track-sanding apparatus



(No Model.) a sheath-sheet 1.

M. B. BOULTER. 7 AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

No. 572,087. 7 Patented Nov. 24,1896.

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(No Model.) 3' Sheets-Sheet 2.

M. E. BOULTER. AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

No. 572,087. Patented Nov. 24,1896.

WITHEEEES W1 Q f 4 (No linden. a Sheets-Sheet a.

M. E. BOULTER. f AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

No. 572,087. r I Patented Nov. 24. 1896.

W E5 I \/E' -rui= UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIc-E.

MARK E. BOULTER, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTOMATICTRACK SANDING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, AND

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR TRACK-SANDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 572,087, dated November24, 1896.

Application'filed November 25, 1895. Serial No. 570,002. (No inodeld 7To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MARK E. BOULTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in AutomaticValves for Track-Sanding Apparatus, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining itsnature.

The invention relates to an automatic valve for track-sanding apparatusemploying a blast or current of air in the feeding of sand therefrominterposed between the main air-reservoir, the train-line of anautomatic air-brake system, and the sand-box, actuated by variations inthe pressure of the air in the trainline, and which, upon suchvariations, caused by service stops or emergency stops, or both, servesto automatically feed or supply the sand-box with a sand-forcing blastor current.

It also consists of means organized with said valve for feeding airthrough it from the air-reservoir when the air-brake is not inoperation. It further consists of means for controlling the action ofthe valve whereby it may be set to operate at every service stop of theair-brake or at emergency stops only.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of aportion of a locomotive, representing my automatic valve in the cab ofthe locomotive and its pipe connections with the main air-reservoir, thetrainline, and the sand-box. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation,enlarged, of the valve. Fig. 3 is a view in vertical section thereof,and Fig. 4 is a view in horizontal section.

The valve A is preferably located in the cab and within reach of theengineer. It is adapted to receive air from the main cylinder B by meansof the connecting-pipe b. It is connected with the train-line of theautomatic air-brake by the pipe 0 and with the sand-boxD bythe pipe (I.(See Fig. 1.) Any form of track-sanding apparatus or box using an airblast or current in feeding or expelling sand therefrom may be used.

The valve A has a casing a, which is provided with a valve-chamber E anda pistontends.

chamber F. The valve-chamber is connected with the main air-reservoir Bor other source of air supply by a pipe b, which is coupled toscrew-head e, which screwsinto a threaded extension of the valve-chamberand has the threaded inlet 6. There are preferably three outlets to thisvalve-chamber. One is the main outlet g to the passage g from the exit gof which the pipe (Z to the sand-box ex- This exit has an interiorscrew-thread g for receiving the threaded end of said pipe.

The main outlet g'is surrounded by a raised valve-seat g; which extendsinto the valvechamber, and against which the valve E, con-- tained insaid valve-chamber, is closed to close the main outlet. The main outletis opened and held opened, as will be hereinafter described, and whenopened permits air from the main air-reservoir or other'source of airsupply to pass through the valve-chamber passage g and a pipe to thesand-box or track-sanding apparatus. h is the second outlet from thevalve-chamber. It is formed in the side wall of the chamber, and isadapted to be opened and closed by a valve H, having a threaded spindleh, arranged to turn in the threaded cap 72, which itself screws into thethreaded hole h in the side of the main casing of the valve. The spindlehas at its upper end a handle h", by which it is turned and the valveopened or closed. The open-' ing of the valve establishes acommunication between the valve-chamber and the passage g, by which airat any time can be supplied to the said passage g and the pipe cl andthe sand-box regardless of the operation of the valve E. This suppliesthe engineer with means which'are not automatic for supplying the sandbox or apparatus with air at any desired time, and especially when theair-brake is not being operated. m is the third outlet to thevalve-chamber. This is simply a dripoutlet, by which water or otherwaste may escape to a receiving-chamber m beneath, from which it may beemptied at any time through 5 the escape-passage m controlled by valveM, extending about the valve-seat when open, into the valve-chamber mand thence into the passage m in the valve M. I I

The piston-chamber F containsa piston f,

which is connected with the valve E by a piston rod or stem f, extendingthrough a stuffing-box f in the partition or diaphragm f and through themain outlet g. This piston f may be of any desired construction. I haverepresented it as made of a plate f having a threaded hub f upon whichis screwed a second plate f", which has a threaded sleeve to engage thethreaded hub, and which serves to clamp a packing f against the plate fThere is between the piston f and the diaphragm f a chamber 02, and thischamber is connected by a passage at, having the threaded end 11 withthe train-line by the pipe 0. The chamber n is directlyconnected bymeans of the passage 11. and small passage n with the other side of thepiston-chamber F, the small passage extending to and joining a stillsmaller passage 12*, the size of which may be adjusted or varied bymeans of a valve 01 having the exposed end 7Z6, by which it is adaptedto be turned. Access to the pistonchamber is had by the head 0, whichscrews into a threaded extension of the chamber, and in this head is ahole 1), which receives a threaded pipe 19, at the outer end of which isa cock P, which provides means by which the pressure in the cylinder maybe quickly red need for the purpose of permitting the valve regulatingthe main outlet g to be instantly or quickly closed, if at any time itis desirable to do so.

In order to understand the automatic operation of the apparatus when thevalve is automatically operated, it must be understood that normally thepiston-chamber F on each side of the piston and the chamber n are filledwith compressed air at the pressure of the air in the train-line andthat the valve-chamber E is filled with air of the pressure of the mainair-reservoir, which is considerably in excess of the pressure of theair in the pistonchamber and in the train -line, and which serves topress the valve E against the valveseat and maintains closed the outletg, except when the train-brake is operated. Upon the operation of thetrain-brake there is an escape of air from the train-line, and thisimmediately causes a reduction of pressure in the chamber *a and part ofthe piston-chamber connected therewith and permits the excess ofair-pressure in the other part of the piston-chamber to move the pistonsufficiently to open the valve E and permit the air to escape throughthe outlet g to the track-sanding apparatus, and thereby actuating itand causing sand to be delivered to the track while the brakes are beingset. The piston is moved by this variation in pressure against thepressure in the valve-chamber E, because the area of the piston isenough larger than the area of the valve 1 to enable the pressure in thechamber to so operate it, and the valve E is held open until anequilibrium between the pressures upon each side of the piston isreestablished, or until the pressure upon the train-line side has beenso much increased that the pressure upon the valve is efiective againstthe pressure in the valve-v chamber.

WVhether the valve operates for every service stop or for emergencystops only depends upon the size of the passage or connection 01 01 thepassage being smaller for service stops than for emergency stops. Thereason for this is foundin. the fact that the pressure in the train-lineis not reduced so much or so rapidly in a service stop as in anemergency stop, and consequently the passage a 01 should be so small asto prevent an equalization of pressures upon each side of the pistontaking place so rapidly as to prevent the pressure upon the outer sideof the piston being for a while greater than that upon the inner side.If, however, the passage is increased in size to such. an extent thatfor ordinary service stops there is a quick equalization of thepressures in the piston-chamber upon each side of the piston, then thepiston will not be operated and the valve will not open, but this willnot prevent the piston from actuating the valve.

In case there is such a rapid reduction of pressure in the train-line,such as ordinarily happens with an emergency stop, that passsage n n isthen insufficient in size to permit of an equalization of pressuresrapid enough to prevent the actuation of the piston the variation in thesize of this passage is accomplished by means of the regulating-valve aabove referred to.

In operation, upon the actuation of the train air-line brake, the valvehaving been set to operate for service stops, the tracksanding apparatusis set in operation simultaneously with the application of the brakesand sand delivered to the rails. If the apparatus is set for'anemergency stop, then sand is not delivered at every service stop, butonly at emergency stops. It will be understood that if it delivers forservice stops it will also deliver for emergency stops; that is, whenadjusted for service stops it will of course operate upon an emergencystop. When the train-brake is not operated, air may still be supplied tothe track-sanding box or apparatus by means of the valve H, which isoperated by the engineer at pleasure.

If for any reason it should be desired to close the valve G suddenly,the valve P may be opened, reducing the pressure upon the piston f.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States 1. The combination of anair-reservoir and train-line of an air-brake system with the sand-boxand an intermediate valve, having a valve-chamber connected with thesaid airreservoir and the sand-box, a piston-chamber connected upon oneside with the train-line by a large passage, and upon the other side bya restricted or small passage a piston in said piston-chamber and avalve, the piston- V ltltllllllll chamber and piston being of largerarea than the valve, and the piston being connected with the valve, allas and for the purposes described.

2. In an automatic valve of the character specified, the combination ofthe valve-chamber connected with the air-reservoir and with thesand-box, a piston-chamber connected upon both sides with thetrain-line, the connection from one side being 'much smaller than thatupon the other, and means for regulating the size of the said smallerpassage, the said piston and piston-chamber being of larger area thanthe valve and the piston being connected with the valve, as and for thepurposes described.

3. The combination of the air-reservoir and train-line of an air-brakesystem, a sanding device and an intermediate automatic valve connectedwith the air-reservoir, train-line and sanding device as specified, andadapted to be automatically actuated to open the connection between theair-reservoir and the sanding device upon the application of thetrain-brake, and means substantially as specified for varying the actionof said automatic valve adapted to be set in advance of its action, andwhereby it may be automatically operated for service steps or foremergency stops only, substantially as described.

4. The combination in an automatic valve of the character specified, ofthe casing a, the valve-chamber E, therein, the inlet 6 to thevalve-chamber, the outlet g, the passage g, the relatively largepiston-chamber F, the piston f contained therein, the piston-rod fconnecting it with the valve E in the valvechamber, the said valve E,the piston being of larger area than the valve, the passage n from oneend of the piston-chamber and the passage n n from the other end of thepiston-chamber, all as and for the-purposes described.

5. The combination of the valve-body having the valve-chamber E andthreaded extension therefrom, the threaded cap e to screw into saidextension, having the threaded hole e, the diaphragm having the passageg, the outlet g having the threaded end g the passage h between thevalve-chamber and the outlet g of the valve or cook H for controllingthe same, the piston-chamber F, the piston f contained therein, thevalve E, the piston-rod connecting the piston with the valve, thediaphragm and stuffing-box f supported thereby, the passages connectingthe pistonchamber upon both sides of the piston with the train-line, thethreaded hole W, the regulator n for regulating the size of the passagen W, the relief-cock P, the drip-chamber n, its connection m with thevalve-chamber E, and its cock, substantially as described.

6. The combination in a valve of the character specified, of thevalve-chamber E connected with the air-reservoir and with the sand-box,its valve, the piston-chamber, piston f, of relatively large area,contained therein, adapted to be operated by variations of theair-pressure of the train-line upon either side thereof, and connectedwith the valve E and the cock P for relieving or changing the pressureupon one side of the piston to permit the closing of the valve.

MARK E. BOULTER. Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. H. DOLAN.

